A hemodialyzer is medical equipment for purifying the blood of renal failure patients and drug intoxication patients. The mechanism for hemodialysis treatment generally consist of three parts: a hemodialyzer, a blood line through which blood circulates, and a dialysate supply system. While maintaining an extracorporeal circulation by means of a blood line which is directly connected to the inside of the blood vessel at two locations, the blood is fed into the compartment inside a hollow fiber of the hemodialyzer, which is connected to some midpoint in the blood line.
On the other hand, an electrolyte called dialysate is flown into the compartment outside the hollow fiber of the hemodialyzer in the opposite direction of the blood flow. Both compartments of the hemodialyzer are divided by a separation membrane called hemodialysis membrane, and while the blood and dialysate flow in opposite directions, material transfer by diffusion occurs depending on the density gradient across the separation membrane, and thus removal of uremic toxin and intoxicating substances as well as replenishing of substances in shortage are performed. Generally, the above described hemodialyzing apparatus is composed of equipment for maintenance of extracorporeal circulation, stable supply of dialysate, control of excess water removal from blood, and the like.
In view of the monitoring of equipment and patient information during hemodialysis and security management, prior art hemodialysis monitoring apparatuses are superior; however, they are insufficient in view of labor saving in the overall processing relating to hemodialysis such as the priming before treatment (preparation process for washing and thereby cleaning the blood line and flow path or dialyser), blood withdrawal after needling (operation for starting extracorporeal circulation by withdrawal the blood from the body to the blood line), liquid replenishing during hemodialysis treatment, blood returning in the end (operation of finishing extracorporeal recirculation for returning the blood in the blood line to the body), smooth transitions between each process, and the like.
Automation has not been achieved especially in specific processes and transitions between processes, and thus labor intensive operations and expertise of medical professionals were needed. To finish the priming and blood withdrawal in a short time for a number of patients visiting at the same time, a large amount of manpower needed to be thrown in at a time. On the other hand, such placement of manpower was excessively large during hemodialysis treatment (blood circulation), thereby causing temporal non-uniformity in the content of labor, and economic inefficiency.
Moreover, in conventional hemodialysis practices, about 1 liter of intravenous formulation of saline was used for cleaning/filling the blood line and the hemodialyzer in the priming process. It has been pointed out that cleaning with the amount of 1 liter is not enough to sufficiently clean the flow path. However, use of a large amount of saline for cleaning/filling will cause an increase in costs.
Moreover, when a drop of blood pressure occurs during hemodialysis treatment, additional saline is needed thus complicating the routine and causing a cost increase. Recently, purifying technology of dialysate has made a remarkable progress, and a new system has been established in which an ultrapure purified dialysate is applied as a reverse-filtration liquid replenishing. In such a system, purified dialysate by means of a reverse filtration can be used in place of saline as a rinse liquid or a replenishing liquid. However, a liquid replenishing line system, which is capable of readily and reliably providing reverse-filtered dialysate for the purpose of replenishing during priming and treatment without resulting in a secondary contamination caused by stagnation of dialysate, has not been disclosed.